Stage Directions: You’ve heard a lot in recent years about theatres spending millions to build fancy new theatre buildings, but I believe this is the first I’ve heard of a theatre building new houses for their artists. On Monday, Nov. 14, Goodspeed Musicals will cut the ribbon on their new Artists Village, a collection of 17 new homes of varying sizes (townhouses as well as 3, 4 and 6-bedroom homes) offering 65 fully-furnished bedrooms (each with their own private bath) for their artists. Goodspeed will use these home to offer better accommodations to visiting artists, but they’ll also use the village to offer more time to writing teams to work on a project, and the houses will be an anchor for economic development in the East Haddam neighborhood.
Monday, November 07, 2011
Goodspeed Musicals Will Open New Artists Village
Stage Directions: You’ve heard a lot in recent years about theatres spending millions to build fancy new theatre buildings, but I believe this is the first I’ve heard of a theatre building new houses for their artists. On Monday, Nov. 14, Goodspeed Musicals will cut the ribbon on their new Artists Village, a collection of 17 new homes of varying sizes (townhouses as well as 3, 4 and 6-bedroom homes) offering 65 fully-furnished bedrooms (each with their own private bath) for their artists. Goodspeed will use these home to offer better accommodations to visiting artists, but they’ll also use the village to offer more time to writing teams to work on a project, and the houses will be an anchor for economic development in the East Haddam neighborhood.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
7 comments:
This is fantastic for Goodspeed. It will be interesting to see if the fact that they are now able to provide such amazing housing for their artists will affect the product on stage. In addition, the company's plan to use the housing to create and environment in which writers can work and new works will be developed is an interesting one. I am not familiar with Goodspeed's season or programming, but it might be an interesting idea to build a small blackbox in the housing community to give these new works a place to perform (which can also be used for cabarets, etc).
This concept of an artist's village is also an interesting one. I have often thought of how beneficial it would be for artists of many different types living and working together in one location, feeding off of each other's ideas and collaborating on projects in interesting ways. In some ways, I picture a modern recreation of a renaissance village with the many craftsman and artisans.
This is an awesome idea. I was not really aware that some theaters made it a practice to provide artist housing, but it certainly makes sense, especially in satellite towns from major cities that are just a little bit too far away to regularly commute to. I'm a little shocked that prior to this new set up, they had "Seasoned professionals live in cramped, boarding house-style quarters where they are frequently asked to share a living space with as many as 13 other people or a bathroom with 3 or 4 strangers." I'm surprised that they were able to bring people in at all with those conditions. Creative thinking, at least for me, requires a clean space that is definitively my own. It's definitely a huge improvement that the theater has invested so much money in these newer, less cramped residences. It's like an artist's retreat. I would love to see how that would work in person, being surrounded by so many creative energies and working on the same project together.
Awesome! I think the thing that worries me most whenever I see applications for internships or summer jobs is the line that says "housing provided" because you have absolutely no idea what that could mean. Goodspeed recognizes accurately that if they are going to be bringing in outside people to work in connecticut, they are going to need places to stay, and making those places nice and welcoming will only make more people want to come work there. It cultivates a community, as the article pointed out, and saves a lot of hassle associated with finding living in whatever city/town one is working in.
Must have a good real estate agent or perhaps a long-time subscriber remembered them in their will. Regardless of where the housing came from it's quite impressive. If others companies will be able to provide such great housing for their actors I wonder what effect this kind of treatment will have on companies with repetory companies. An artists commune all working for the same company? It's a nice idea.
As much as I like Goodspeed (being from the area I have been able to see the beautiful performance space, though unfortunately I haven not had the opportunity to see any performances), this idea sounds a bit ritzy. The idea of an artists village is a wonderful one - but this may be defeating the purpose. Having housing be so expensive is a major downfall here. It also may be interesting to see there be a place to create - it is not truly a creative space if there is no room for expression. Overall, the idea is a lovely one, but may have been put together in the wrong vein or with the wrong intentions in mind.
I'm jealous already. This is awesome, and I give many props to goodspeed for thinking of the artists and not just the rich patrons they want to impress with a grand new lobby. It would be wonderful to have a place to stay if I was a visiting designer, and techies who commute far could probably stay there during the intense all-day tech rehearsals, cutting down on stress, and probably helping the show get set up smoother.
It's also just a nice gesture to accommodate people. It shows them that this theatre is special-- and everyone who stays there or even reads about it will remember that. I hope this becomes a trend, and it probably will.
So the only thing I do not understand is who exactly these are for. I applaud the development's efforts to create an Artists' Village because I do think there is now an appeal to the area which will bring more residents and development so from an economic standpoint, I would say this is great. What I struggle with is the purpose of the houses. Are they houses? Because for a visiting artist this is an apartment. But others may be residents of the area but not company residents. Do they get to live here? And do they have to move out when a show ends? Because yes some will be kept for visiting artists, but how many? Five? Ten? Twenty? I cannot believe all 65. And for people who are working on collaborative projects in the space how long is the lease? I think in concept it is great but will always be an expensive venture for Goodspeed if the houses are not always occupied. But I can not wait to see the economic development that comes from this project!
Post a Comment